Above: artwork from an animation by Stefan G. Bucher. . The San Diego AIGA’s annual Y design conference is next week, March 25th and 26th. Part one of this four-part report covered its inception. Here, some of the key people who made it all happen discuss the struggles and joys of its birth. Parts...

This is the first of four reports. Here are parts two, three, and four. Sure, your boss will foot the bills for design conferences that tell you how to do this ‘n’ that. But the ones that probe the “whys,” they’re the much more significant and, ultimately, the most rewarding ones. And the one...